August 2020, Pastor's Newsletter Article

Below please find my article for our August Newsletter.  As we continue to work our way through these historic times let us never waver in our faith in our provider and Lord!  Praise be to Jesus who is and will always be the Christ!

Be a blessing to someone today!

In Christ,

Roy

Pastor's Ponderings

I can scarcely believe that it's time for me to write my August newsletter article, where has the year gone?  To be honest, I suspect that most of us are ready for 2020 to be over and done with... we're collectively thinking “let's start fresh with 2021 and see what we can make of it.”  Well, let's not discard 2020 quite yet, we still have time to accomplish some things to further the body of Christ here in our community.  Please keep your eyes and ears open for opportunities for us to minister and if you see some need or a possible ministry let us know!  It's all of us working together to discern God's plan that makes the body work.

Unfortunately, most of what remains of this year is a question mark, with no way to start to plan for even our annual Soup Suppers.  We are still planning to hold our Christmas Concert on December 5th and please all pray that things will have blown over and that we'll be able to gather to celebrate God and be inspired to serve Him more fully than ever.  My prayer and conviction is that we'll be past the need for social distancing and that we'll be able to sit as normal and laugh and cheer together.

I've now been doing our 'Daily Devotions' since March 16th, with Sunday being the only day each week were a devotion isn't given.  As a result, we've accumulated a fair amount of material to aid others in their faith walk and to speak words of encouragement into their lives.  Clint and I have burned all the devotions from March 16th until June 30th onto one DVD and we'll burn another DVD with all of the devotions for July. Going forward, we'll burn a new DVD each month. If you or anyone you know would like to have a copy of this (these) DVD(s) to play on your DVD player or computer, please call the office and Clint will get one right out to you.

The devotions are live-streamed on Facebook every day (Mon-Sat) and then archived on my YouTube Channel.  Anyone can find them on the Church's Facebook page, my personal Facebook page, or on my YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/user/wmroykarlen/videos

Currently, we are working our way through one of my favorite books; Paul's letter to the Galatians.  This a wonderful book and I'd invite you all to follow along in the study.  We've been fortunate enough to have a decent number of people viewing the devotions and the other day one was even shared on Facebook by a Christian brother over in Africa.  I also share the videos on LinkedIn every morning and there are people from all across the world who have tuned in, I regularly see folks from England and Switzerland on there as well as folks from coast to coast in the US.  It's amazing how our little Church here in Iowa can reach out and hopefully speak to believers all around the Globe.

Next Clint and I will be putting some of the sermons on a DVD and have those also available for distribution.  If you or anyone you know would like some of these DVDs please let Clint or I know and we'll get a copy out to you.

Well, I need to get this article to Clint so he can merge it with everything else so I best wrap up these ramblings.

I'll mention as I close that we must all rest reassured that no matter what the world will throw at us (and recently it seems very busy tossing things), nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:38-39 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Be a blessing to someone today!  Pastor Roy